


Simply Shakespearean

by LowkeyScrupious



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Scorbus, Shipmas 2018, boys being gay in hogsmeade, but scorpius is nervous about coming out, but there, honestly this is fluff, idk how to tag this i'm sorry, it's really not angsty I just needed a plot otherwise this would have been (FWP) fluff without plot, scorpius doesn't actually come out in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 23:29:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16820611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LowkeyScrupious/pseuds/LowkeyScrupious
Summary: Shipmas prompt #1 - Christmas lights in Hogsmeade.Albus helps calm his best friend and boyfriend as they trundle through the snow towards a formality Scorpius has been putting off.





	Simply Shakespearean

As they walked hand in hand down the trodden path through the snow to the Three Broomsticks, Scorpius glanced over at his boyfriend. _How lucky am I_ , he thought to himself, as he realised that Albus had suddenly become ten times more attractive in the snow than Scorpius would have believed possible. It was dark, their path in the middle of the snowy road only illuminated by the hundreds of Christmas lights strung between the houses on either side of them, and the light coming from people’s drawn windows. The twinkling of all the multi-coloured lights were reflected in Albus’s eyes, and Scorpius found his breath caught in his throat at the sight.

His boyfriend had seemed to notice that he was staring, because he looked up and smirked at the look on Scorpius’s face.

“What?” Albus asked, suddenly that characteristic self-consciousness that Scorpius found truly adorable making an appearance.

“Nothing,” Scorpius replied. “Just thinking how lucky I am.”

“What, to have such an amazing best friend and boyfriend as me?”

Albus was clearly saying it jokingly, but Scorpius could never understand why. What he was saying was _exactly_ _why_ Scorpius had said what he’d said. He shook his head and looked away from Albus to concentrate on not falling on the frankly dangerously icy path. There was no point trying to convince Albus on this. Not now, anyway. He knew Albus knew how much he loved him, and Scorpius would make sure to let him know _just_ how lucky he felt later.

They continued through the snow, Scorpius swinging his mittened hand in Albus’s, with a kind of nervous energy he worried would convey to Albus just how jittery he actually was. 

“Hey.”

Before Scorpius realised it Albus had put his hands on his waist and pulled him in so they were facing each other with barely any space between them at all. Scorpius couldn’t help the smile spreading across his face. He didn’t want to give Albus the satisfaction, but he much preferred this new arrangement. He tried to position his features into an exasperated expression, hoping to give off the impression of someone who didn’t have much time for this.

Albus however seemed to be having none of it. Scorpius watched as his boyfriend reached a hand up to his frozen face and gently brushed a damp blonde strand of hair back beneath his bobble hat. Scorpius focused on Albus’s eyes, and how the Christmas lights were still glinting so brightly right in the centre of his pupils, somehow managing to bring out the green even more than usual. He wanted to cry at how beautiful he was.

“There,” Albus commented casually, as if he’d just helped Scorpius achieve something tremendous.

“What was that for?” he asked back, truly not able to help from beaming now. “I could see perfectly fine.”

“Yes, but this way I get to see _you_ a whole lot better.”

For a moment Scorpius worried about blushing, but then he remembered the cold had probably made him pretty flushed already. His eyes raked over Albus, taking him in now that he had an excuse. Albus’s skin looked cold from the weather, but in a fresh, pleasant kind of way. He’d always been able to get away with that since he was darker in tone to Scorpius. It was one of the many things Scorpius loved about him. His fluffy hair was stuck up at the front from where he’d gelled it, but the sweat and dampness from the melted snow was making it even messier than usual. The desire to run his hands through it suddenly caught Scorpius and he reached out to stroke away the light dusting of snow that had settled there.

“Plus,” Albus continued, “I know you’re worried about tonight.”

Scorpius swallowed. Yes, he was worried. He had been hoping to not make a big deal about it, but he supposed Albus would always be able to see through his calm façade.

“Nothing’s going to change between you and your dad, you know that right?” Albus continued to scan Scorpius’s face, looking for any sign that Scorpius was panicking more than the situation called for.

“Yes. I know. Don’t worry, I’m fine, I know things may be a bit awkward between us for a while, and that makes me nervous, but I know eventually it will be okay and he’ll be accepting and loving and just be really great about it-” Scorpius cut himself off as he realised he’d said all this very fast. He took a breath. “I’m fine, I have to do this, and I have you here with me, so it’s going to be fine.” His heart lifted at the thought.

Albus graced him with one of his adorably self-conscious smiles. In that moment, Scorpius fell in love all over again. There was nothing, _nothing_ , he would ever enjoy more than seeing that smile, or indeed being the one to cause it. Just then, a snowflake drifted down and landed on Albus’s cheek, staying for a moment before melting, and Scorpius thought he had never seen a more perfect sight. He reached his thumb up to wipe it away gently, and as he did, Albus reached up and put his hand on top of Scorpius’s, holding it there on his face.

“Albus,” Scorpius said, at a loss for words. “You’re _quite_ beautiful you know.” Well that didn’t do justice at all to how in awe he felt right now. He closed his eyes, willing himself to do better, to be able to convey to Albus how truly breath-taking he was. “Like a _lot_.”

He smiled internally, and perhaps externally too, because when he opened his eyes Albus was grinning back at him.

“Shh,” Albus replied. “You’re stealing my thunder here.”

Albus removed his hand from keeping Scorpius’s in place, moving it instead to pull at the base of Scorpius’s hair (or tried to, considering Scorpius’s hat), and placing his other hand against the small of Scorpius’s back, drawing him in for a kiss.

It was lovely and felt like home as usual, but this time as their mouths collided there was a passionate edge to it, which Scorpius found himself rather enjoying. He could have stayed in that moment forever, intertwined with Albus like this – the two of them, separate from the world around them, in their own perfect universe – but sadly it had to come to an end, and far before Scorpius would have liked, Albus had broken off, resting his forehead against Scorpius’s.

His boyfriend made a contented little noise that made Scorpius’s heart sing, and the feel of Albus’s heavy breathing over his mouth and chin was enough to melt away even the subtlest suggestion it was a cold day.

“I love you, you know that Scorp?”

“Shut up, I know you have a thing for that Ravenclaw girl in the year below,” Scorpius teased back, eyes still closed.

Albus just huffed amusedly through a smile, and this time it was Scorpius’s turn to break away. “Anyway, while that was _lovely_ Albus, we are actually going to be very late very soon if we don’t get a move on.”

As he said it Scorpius caught a glimpse of a wizard hurrying along towards them, quite obviously trying to cover up the fact that he’d just been staring. Scorpius’s expression must have changed because Albus followed his eyeline and they both turned to watch the man hurry by them, then quickly glance behind him again.

“Ok… was that because you’re Albus Potter and I’m Scorpius Malfoy, or because we’re being gay?” Scorpius sighed.

“Well, let’s just hope it was the first one,” Albus replied, clearly trying to reassure him before such a big night.

Scorpius turned his attention back to Albus. “You’d think people would get over it, it’s 2024 for Merlin’s sake!”

“Scorp…”

Scorpius could see Albus was trying to think of something to reassure him, but he knew his boyfriend – it was part of their relationship that Albus was awkward and found it hard to know what to say sometimes, and that was just fine with him. Besides the fact that Scorpius often spoke too much for the pair of them, it was comforting to know that Albus understood how he felt and desperately wanted to help him. And he did, just not with long eloquent speeches. “It’s okay, sorry! It’s fine, I’m fine!”

“Scorpius,” Albus groaned, “give me a chance! That wizard, does he know us? No. Does he want to know us? Probably not. Don’t give him the time of day.”

Scorpius smiled, it felt good to have Albus there, have his voice drifting over him like a warming charm. “Simply Shakespearean, Al.”

“Oh shut up. Hey weren’t you saying something about the other day about… the history of so… sho- socialogy… or something?”

Albus clearly struggled to remember, but _bless him_ , he did. Even though it was history and even though he clearly didn’t understand that Scorpius was studying wizarding _sociology_ (a muggle concept), he loved him that much to know it was relevant.

“Well, Abbot does argue that large scale, population-wide attitudes seem to take longer to change in smaller wizarding communities than in the larger muggle world, that’s a key observation of his in _Scourers and the Creation of MACUSA_ , and he thought this had multiple implic-”

“Scorp, weren’t you saying something about being late?” Albus cut him off gently with a chuckle before he had a chance to ramble on for too long.

“You know, if you listened to me every now and then you may actually learn something Albus,” he chided him as they set off again, hand in mittened hand.

Albus made a retching noise. “Scorp, if I wanted to learn more about history, I’d ask thanks! That’s why I dropped History of Magic, remember?”

“Hmm, but _is it_ though, or is it because you wanted to drop me for your favourite smoky-eyed potions professor?” He grinned adorably up at Albus – he couldn’t help himself. Teasing his boyfriend like this was too good.

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” Albus replied as they passed the shop front of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.

“Never.” Scorpius’s eyes too, were drawn to the wonderful display of Albus’s uncle’s shop, long since closed for the day. It looked like a Christmas explosion, the number of lights and moving prototypes still hovering tantalisingly behind the windows. “It’s quite something Al.”

Albus grinned at him as they passed the building, on their way to a different, but just as warm and inviting, Hogsmeade outlet.

Scorpius swallowed thickly as the Three Broomsticks came into sight. It was busy as usual, the windows emitting a perfectly homely shade of light, and the sounds of laughter and drinks clinking greeting their ears. It wasn’t the immediate place one might presume to find Draco Malfoy, but Scorpius knew his dad was in there, waiting.

He stopped suddenly as a swoop of dread suddenly flooded through his stomach, and he squeezed Albus’s hand tighter. He looked up at him, suddenly unsure of this whole situation.

“We’ve got this,” Albus said simply, and just like that, Scorpius believed him.

He didn’t know how or why he was able to put his blind faith in Albus so much, especially when faced with such a terrifying thought as announcing his and Al’s relationship to his father, but for whatever reason, he could. It had always been that way between them, and he hoped it always would be. When things mattered, when Scorpius himself didn’t know what to do, _trust Albus_.

He turned purposefully towards the pub, half pulling Albus along in his wake, and with every footprint closer, he felt his anxieties melting away. This was his _dad_. He probably already knew, or just assumed he and Al were together already - like Albus’s parents, this was just a formality. He knew his dad would accept him and love him still. That wasn’t even in question.

When they were right outside the entrance Albus paused and pulled Scorpius back to him, concern lacing his face.

“You sure you’re alright?”

Scorpius smiled all over as he realised he truly was. “ _Yes_ , Albus.”

And he placed his hand onto the wooden door, pushing it open, safe inside the knowledge that the two people in the world who meant the most to him would never, ever let him down. 

**Author's Note:**

> I literally forgot it was the 2nd December and this needed posting, so the title is literally the last message I sent to Freya and I added in the line to the fic purely for the title to make sense, I'm such a great author!  
> Also obviously thanks Amber for keeping me motivated through this - it seems like such a long time ago we wrote on the phone together!


End file.
